There are a lot of terms used that make wines confusing. And, for American consumers, it seems to get even more confusing with French and Italian wines. The Italian term “Frizzante” is one of these seemingly confusing terms.

Simply put, Frizzante means that the wine is lightly sparkling. You may also see the term “semi-sparkling” used for Frizzante wine.

This is in contrast to a Spumante wine or a traditional Champagne that will have about twice the bubbles as a Frizzante wine.

Frizzante wines are made using the Charmat method in which the second fermentation takes place in a tank. Here, base wines are added together in a large specialized tank with a sugar and yeast mixture (Tirage). As the yeast consumes the sugar it releases carbon dioxide (CO2) . The specialized pressure tank causes the CO2 to be absorbed into the wine. The sparkling wine is then bottled from the tank.

Sparkling wines made using the tank method have a much more freshly made character and secondary yeasty flavors. This tank method is more affordable than the ‘tradition’ method used in Champagne where the secondary fermentation (formation of bubbles) takes place in the bottle.

So, there you have it — Frizzante is lightly sparkling or semi-sparkling wine. Cheers!